Meet Ryan McCann and Lucy Lightowlers, two young Londoners who have a hit restaurant on their hands. The duo founded Taco Queen, a cozy restaurant in Peckham, back in 2016. Neither McCann nor Lightowlers had an hour of food industry experience. In fact, the couple had their background in London’s competitive music industry. As reported by Munchies, the duo got sick of record label horseplay, deciding to try their hands at cooking instead. “[Ryan] went from bit-torrenting records to bit-torrenting cookbooks”, jokes Lightowlers.

These days, Taco Queen is a welcome restaurant in Peckham’s growing food scene. The place is usually full to the rafters, with customers travelling far and wide to try the tacos. Things weren’t always this smooth, especially during the early days. “I would turn up to anything with a table and make some tacos”, McCann told Munchies. “I did it on the street one day [...] and nobody bought any tacos, the table collapsed and the beans went all over Rye Lane”. They soon moved to music space Rye Wax and built a loyal following. One that still travels to munch down Taco Queen’s jackfruit nachos and signature tacos.

Head over to Munchies to read the full interview>